Senate to press ahead on wine-in-grocery stores

The Senate will press ahead with the wine-in-grocery stores bill, despite Tuesday’s major setback in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

A subcommittee appointed by the Senate Finance Committee will meet after Thursday’s morning floor session to discuss ways to loosen restrictions on liquor stores. The move signals that senators are not quite ready to give up on the bill after the House Local Government Committee voted it down 8-7 on Tuesday afternoon.

State Sen. Bill Ketron, the measure’s sponsor, will join Sens. Douglas Henry, Doug Overbey and Mark Norris on the panel. The subcommittee will hold an open meeting in Legislative Plaza, though no one has been invited to give formal testimony.

The vote in the House has been described widely as killing the wine-in-grocery stores bill. But the committee’s chairman left open procedural moves that could resurrect the bill.